Not A Victory March
by Dark Ride
Summary: Having The Mark is rare enough within the Walls and meeting the one person who can activate your Mark is rarer still. The question is: Is that a blessing or a curse? Soulmate!AU and diverging canon.
1. Chapter 1

**Content Notice:** language, canon-typical violence

 **A/N:** The first inspiration for the fic came from a The Flash soulmate!AU fic I read months ago. Since then, I saw the concept applied in various fandoms and decided to try out writing one of my own. The title of the fic comes from a verse to Jeff Buckley's Hallelujah. Enjoy.

* * *

The Mark didn't hurt when it appeared. That was the only good thing about it and as far as Mikasa was concerned, it was a useless one. She could have dealt with the pain better than with what it symbolized.

"You are quite lucky, you know," the doctor told her. "The Marks are very uncommon even inside Wall Sina. For people from Wall Maria, the probability is only about one in eight hundred."

Mikasa looked at her left forearm and at the dark, tattoo-like symbol imposed above the veins. It was shaped like one of the blades she would eventually use in the service.

"What exactly am I supposed to do?"

"Nothing, really," the doctor replied as she jotted something down in Mikasa's file. "The over-all probability of having the Mark is about one in five hundred, with Wall Sina residents having a one in a hundred chance of being Marked. When you consider the fact that only about thirty percent of the Marked pairs manage to find each other, it's best to leave it to chance."

"I see," Mikasa murmured and stood up. "Thank you, doctor."

"Trainee Ackerman," the doctor said slowly. "I know it seems scary but the Mark will only have as much control over your life as you let it. Your life is still yours."

Mikasa nodded but she was not convinced. She had heard the tales of the Marks, everyone had, and in the tales, the Marks changed one's life. The Mark meant that there was someone out there who was the perfect match for a person. A soulmate. It was hard to imagine that such a bond would not impact one's life significantly. There were people who spent their whole lives searching for that person and then there were others who hated their chosen partner once they found them. Mikasa wasn't sure which would be worse but she was clear on one thing. She didn't want this at all.

* * *

Mikasa being Marked caused a minor sensation among the trainee group. Since the Marks appeared between the ages of twelve and fifteen, there was a lot of speculation regarding her potential partner and if he or she might be present among them.

While there were some other Marked people, their Marks didn't match Mikasa's and the excitement eventually died down. Yes, she was Marked. No, she didn't have her match among her classmates. Some people still held out hope but as the graduation approached, it became clear that Mikasa's match was not among the trainees.

If Mikasa was to be honest with herself, which she tried to be, she was disappointed that Eren had turned out Unmarked. It was slightly better than him having a Mark that didn't match hers but not by much.

She actually hoped she would never meet her match. While she didn't take the tales of the sudden devotion between the matched pair triggered by the meeting seriously, she knew it would change everything regardless. She dreaded the loss of control over her life it implied. She had accepted there were things she couldn't change or affect but she wouldn't accept a possible shift of her loyalties.

That was the one thing she would absolutely not allow to happen.

* * *

Coming to the realization of one's limits was never a pleasant experience. Mikasa came upon hers in Trost, after Eren had sealed the gate in his Titan form. Armin was there to get him out and Mikasa didn't see a reason to hurry.

She was wrong.

Two Titans loomed over Eren's dissolving Titan form and Mikasa knew she wouldn't get there in time to kill them. The angle of the Wall was wrong for launching her anchor, the buildings were too far to be of any use and even if she ran as fast as she could, she wouldn't make it before the Titans reached Eren and Armin and hurt them, if not worse.

She would still try, of course, but she knew it would be futile.

When someone else swooped down upon the Titans - at a perfect angle to cut through their necks, Mikasa noted - she felt relieved. She recognized the emblem on the cloak as it settled around the man's form just as she reached Eren and Armin. She heard Eren mumble something but her attention was fixed on the man who had protected her family in her stead.

"Hey, brats! What's the situation here?"

Mikasa held back an angry retort at that. In any case, other soldiers descended quickly down, most of them wearing the cloaks with the wings of freedom. Rico went forward to talk to the man Mikasa belatedly recognized as Captain Levi. For a moment, it seemed as if they had forgotten about Eren.

He was barely conscious as Mikasa helped Armin to lay him out. He was blinking up at them with unfocused eyes and Mikasa smoothed his hair back. She had almost lost him. She had almost lost them both. She hadn't been fast enough. But someone else had been.

Mikasa looked across to where Rico and Captain Levi had been joined by three other people. They seemed to confer about something and Rico turned around, her eyes searching through the dispersing steam until she met Mikasa's. Rico beckoned to her to join them and after a last look at Eren and Armin, Mikasa went.

* * *

Pride had never been one of Mikasa's vices. She had more than enough reasons to be proud of her skills but it wasn't about her personal satisfaction. Her skills were just means to an end. So even the fact that she was once again singled out for joining the elite forces during the clean-up of Trost meant little to her.

It made sense. A large part of the Garrison's elite unit had died to give Eren a chance to seal the gate. People skilled enough to engage Titans in battle alone were few and Mikasa was one of those. Based on Rico's recommendation, she was told to head out and fight Titans on her own.

She teamed up with other soldiers from time to time as the Survey Corps and Garrison's engineer teams worked together to eradicate Titans in the town but most of the time, she worked alone. She cut her way through Titans systematically, making her way towards Captain Levi's position.

Pride had never been one of Mikasa's vices and she was certainly not too proud to acknowledge the Captain's rescue of the two most important people in her life. She needed to thank him, even if it meant recognizing her own deficiency in being too slow to come to their rescue herself.

She had finally spotted him two streets over from her current position. He stopped to change his blades and Mikasa didn't think she was going to get a better opportunity. It took her only a couple of seconds to reach him, a quick look around reassuring her there were currently no Titans in the vicinity.

"Captain, may I speak to you for a moment?"

He regarded her for a moment but then he seemed to recognize her.

"Mikasa, right?" She nodded and he continued. "What is it?"

"I wanted to thank you. For saving Eren and Armin."

He frowned briefly as if puzzled by her words.

"You don't need to do that. You don't have to thank me for doing my job," he clarified at her confused look.

Mikasa pressed her lips together. Couldn't he see that what had been just a job to him had meant so much more to her?

"I beg to differ, sir," she said in a clipped tone. "You saved their lives and you have my thanks for that."

 _Whether you want it or not_ went unspoken but he seemed to understand the sentiment if the quirk of his lips was any indication.

"You are welcome," he replied and Mikasa stepped forward offering her hand solemnly. She didn't care if he thought her strange. She knew her duty, her obligation of gratitude and she would fulfill it so she could put it behind her.

He took her hand and it was at the moment when they touched that it happened. It wasn't painful. It was more of a jolt that traversed through Mikasa's body, starting and ending at a single point on her left forearm. It was an instinct that had her letting go of Captain's hand and grasping her forearm over the Mark. Belatedly she realized that Captain Levi had done the same.

As the reality of the situation struck her, she stared in horror at the man opposite her. No, no, no. It couldn't be.

He appeared just as shocked as she felt but he gathered himself faster than her. He pulled up his left sleeve, revealing the familiar sword-shaped Mark on the inside of his forearm. The colour was the only thing different from her own. When Mikasa had looked at her Mark earlier in the morning, it had been black. Captain Levi's Mark was a vivid red. And Mikasa knew there was only one possible explanation for that.

It was with a vague sense of unreality that Mikasa rolled up her own left sleeve. The red colour drew her eyes with a finality that was hard to dispute.

"Well, shit."

Captain's soft words summed up her feelings perfectly. It was official. She had just found her match.


	2. Chapter 2

The obligatory exposition chapter. I'm picking a very different route from your usual soulmate!AU plot so bear with me.

* * *

For several long seconds, the only sound around them was the distant rumbling of the wall-mounted cannons. Mikasa rolled her sleeve down. The first shock was wearing off quickly. Still, out of all the scenarios, all the possible people with whom she could have been matched, the man who was considered the humanity's strongest soldier had never once figured in them.

She didn't feel anything different towards him. There was a respect for his skills and a gratitude for his aid earlier but no sudden desire to be close to him. She had told herself before that the stories were exaggerated but only now did she start to believe it.

And with that realization, it became easier to accept this.

"What happens now?" she asked and he looked up.

"Weren't you told?"

"No, the doctor just said to leave it to chance."

"Fucking useless," he muttered. Mikasa felt a spark of annoyance but his comment didn't seem aimed towards her. "There's supposed to be a protocol in place."

"Supposed to be?" she asked. "You don't know either?"

Levi shrugged, looking to the side.

"I only know the basics. Matched pairs are more effective in a combat so the army try to find all of them. Sometimes they even change the branch assignments to get them together."

Mikasa remembered the doctor writing something down in her file just before she was dismissed.

"Why wasn't I told that?"

"I wouldn't know." He paused. "But I know someone who can explain better. Follow me."

She did, not because he told her to but because she wanted to know more. Not only did it seem that everything she had heard about the Marks was wrong, it was like the information had been kept from her on purpose. She didn't know who or why would have done that but she wasn't happy about that. Not happy at all.

* * *

The encampment the Survey Corps had set up was full of activity. Most of the soldiers were gathered around two Titans, tethering them to the ground with thick chains. The person in charge was the squad leader Mikasa had met briefly earlier, although she didn't get their name.

"Careful! Don't hurt them!" they shouted and Mikasa thought they might be a woman but it was hard to be sure.

"As long as their napes stay intact, they'll survive," Levi said. "Your squad can finish this, I need to talk to you."

"Huh?"

Levi was already heading for the command tent and after throwing a curious glance at Mikasa, the squad leader followed them both inside.

"What's going on?"

"Show her," he said as he rolled up his left sleeve and Mikasa followed his example. The bright red sword-shaped Mark stood out against their skin. The squad leader peered at them and then laughed.

"I knew it! I knew it wasn't a mistake!"

Levi scowled.

"Yes, you were right. That's not important right now."

"Not important? Levi, everything up to this point has shown the matched pairs to be physical and mental equals or close enough for the differential not to matter. An average increase in the combat effectiveness is twenty-three percent. Twenty-three percent increase on your results would be incredible!"

Mikasa got the distinct feeling of missing something. The way the other two talked, it seemed as if they had had this conversation before. She hated being left out of the loop.

"Hange, she didn't know!" Levi finally managed to interrupt the tangent that Hange was on. That deflated the woman quickly.

"What? But she's a graduating trainee. She should have been told."

"I wasn't told anything other than how rare the Mark is and that I should leave finding my match to chance," Mikasa recounted for the second time. The change that came over Hange was scary. She pushed her goggles up, took a deep breath, let it out. She did so again. And again. After a minute, she pulled her goggles down and turned to Mikasa.

"When did your Mark appear?"

"Two years ago."

"And you told the doctor immediately?"

"Yes. I mean, I heard the stories but-"

"Most of those stories are exaggerated nonsense," Hange cut her off impatiently. "Unmarked people confusing cause and effect or mistaking things they don't understand. That's not the point. Levi's Mark has been recorded for six years. You should have been told within a month of your own appearing."

"Why are these Marks so important?" Mikasa asked. "If the stories I heard are wrong, then what's their point?"

"The stories are not entirely wrong," Hange explained as she sat down at the table, waving for Mikasa and Levi to do the same. "The Marks are rare and people bearing identical Marks are each other's perfect match in a physical, mental and emotional sense. However, having the same Mark doesn't make you fall in love instantly, nor does it mean that you have to end up together romantically. The Mark doesn't take away the free will."

Hange paused and rolled up her own left sleeve. The red mark she bore was shaped like two connected spirals.

"Case in point, my relationship with my match is strictly platonic. We are very good friends but we decided not to pursue anything more. Given who we are and what we do, it would bring more trouble to become involved than not. The importance of the Mark, especially activated Mark, lies in something else. It creates a bond of sort, an awareness of the other person. It's not exactly reading minds but it comes very close. As the connection finalises, which usually takes about a week since the activation, you'll be able to feel each other's presence and emotions. You'll become attuned to each other on a subconscious level. It works up to five kilometers although the accuracy drops drastically once you pass the three kilometers mark."

Mikasa sat there in silence, absorbing the information. In a way, it was almost worse than the stories she had heard. To have that kind of connection forced on you through no fault of your own... Then again, she could see why the military would want to utilize this. Pairs of soldiers able to communicate without words, that kind of thing was extremely useful.

"You should have been told all of this as soon as your Mark appeared," Levi said into the lengthening silence. "There are regular checks to find the matches to Marked soldiers. If you weren't told, it must have been on orders from above."

"Well, it's the MP who staff the trainee camps. They might not have wanted to let you two meet," Hange mused. "The accumulation of power in Survey Corps must have worried them."

"Politics!" Levi spat out and Mikasa had to agree with his tone.

"What's done is done," Hange said. "You won't be able to join the MP now as Levi's assignment to Survey Corps takes precedence over your placing in training. You're this year's number one trainee if I remember right."

"I was going to join the Survey Corps anyway," Mikasa said.

"That's great then," Hange said with a smile. "You'll be assigned to Levi's squad at first but the plan has always been to have Levi and his match form a two-person team eventually. I devised several exercises to help you develop your teamwork. I just can't wait to see how you do."

Mikasa could have sworn Hange's eyes glowed for a moment. It was most likely a reflection of light on her goggles from outside but it was fairly unsettling.

"I should go. I still have to report to Rico."

"Right. I'll see you later. If you have any questions about the Marks, don't hesitate to ask."

Levi followed her out of the tent. As she checked her equipment - a force of deeply ingrained habit - he cleared his throat.

"I'm sorry about this, Mikasa. People usually get the chance to decide if they want to go through this."

"You didn't know," she replied and she meant it. This wasn't his fault either. If anyone was to blame, it was the unknown people who had decided to leave her in the dark.

"Be careful," he told her. Before she could protest, he continued. "Not with the Titans. You weren't told about your Mark for a reason and there might be people angry about getting their plans ruined. Keep quiet until we can shield you in the Corps."

She nodded, wondering if the concern she felt was coming from him or was just a projection of her mind.

"Yes, sir. I will."

He nodded at her and she shot her anchor out, swinging up above the houses, feeling his gaze on her until she disappeared out of sight.

* * *

 **A/N:** Why let the Marks be nothing more than glorified birthmarks when you can do so much more with the concept? Also, that slow burn tag is there for a reason.

Lastly, Hange's Mark signifies wisdom, leadership, spiritual enlightenment. There are several variants and meanings for the spiral but the basic gist is that.


End file.
